Leading Off (9/14/12)

Texas Senators Looking at Longer School Day. School’s out for never? Texas senators are mulling over the thought of a longer school day and a longer school year. Apparently it is helpful to struggling students, and other cities have used government grants and donations from area businesses and individuals.

They See Dead People. Apparently there wasn’t enough time to purge the voter rolls of all ye dead, so now its possible to vote as a dead guy if you’ve got his registration card. And apparently purging involves sending a letter to the possible dead person asking them if they’re dead. There’s gotta be an easier way than that – I’ve never seen a death certificate, but since that has to be filed anyway, couldn’t a social or driver’s license or both be attached to it, and then a central database be used to purge that person from things like jury summons, voting, etc?

Fall Allergy Season Early This Year. So yeah, between the Death Mosquitoes and allergies, just stay inside, hermetically seal your house, and drink whiskey. The whiskey won’t do anything for your allergies or your West Nile, but it will make you happier, depending on the whiskey. So in conclusion, whiskey and your couch > dying of mosquito and allergies.

8 comments on “Leading Off (9/14/12)”

I had the honor of being on a panel of educators that helped then Texas Comptroller, Carol Keeton Strayhorn investgate on whether starting school earler in August was better for the schools or not. The benefits of stretching the school year have not been proved; what we do know–it’s costing Texans $790 million annually.
Here is the state website and you can see our conclusion. http://window.state.tx.us/specialrpt/schoolstart2004/

Having a longer school years cost more money in things like air conditioning, and makes the summer shorter for families to be together during the summer. It was a lot of work on that report..I wonder why the senators want longer school years? Really.

Hey Lew… don’t be so sure of that! I broke my neck in an accident some years back… and while recouping, my Texas ID expired. By the time I was well enough to renew it… they wanted a NEW copy of my Birth Certificate from Detroit, a copy of my Divorce… and a copy of my new marriage license. Most of that was lost during the last move… and it will cost me over 100 bucks JUST to get those copies, not to mention the cost of the new ID. Sometimes, it is just not that accessible to get ID.

@Anne, I realize it was inconvenient for you..but all of those documents can be retriweved by mail or gotten on-line. The bottom line is, hopefully we don’t have a nation going to the polls and all of the democrats just happen not to bring their ID so they can vote several times for Brother Obama.

Back in 2008, my elderly mother was living with me and was registered to vote at my address. She passed away the following year. When new voter registration cards arrived last year there wasn’t one for my mother, only my daughter and me. I never notified anyone connected with voter registration that she had died, so clearly these agencies have the capability of communicating with each other. Doesn’t seem to me like there’s a problem.